Serbia is a team that’s familiar to most of us given the recent friendly, so perhaps it’s best not to re-hash previous comments. In summary, they’ve got a couple creative outlets, but a more direct approach seems to suit them. They’re a good European side, and winning a group with Ireland, Wales and Austria is commendable – but by no means was that the trickiest draw in qualification. Without a manager 7 months before the big show, Serbia looks primed for 3 and done.

Nigeria have the reputation of being Africa’s most respectable sides. Despite fielding the youngest side in all of the 32 qualified teams, suffice it to say – Nigeria looks ready. Gernot Rohr has taken a core group of leaders from the 2014 side, like John Obi Mikel, and combined them with the country’s youngest talents, like Alex Iwobi, and the quality of footballers and playing style Nigeria traditionally produces is among Africa’s finest, as their recent 4-2 win over Argentina demonstrated. They walked a tough qualifying group (Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia) and are the team nobody wants from Pot 4.

Australia are, unfortunately, in a state of disarray. How could things go so wrong after an Asian Cup that seemed set to launch them into an era of powerhouse-status in the AFC? They stumbled through qualifying into third place, nipped by Saudi Arabia; almost blew it against Syria, requiring Tim Cahill’s heroics to make the inter-confederation playoff; took 144 minutes to pick open Honduras in the final playoff. Ange Postecoglou has left his job, and despite some good players coming into the fray (Aaron Mooy, for one), you can’t imagine Tim Cahill carrying this side on his shoulders again, certainly not without a good final ball, which was best exposed in July’s Confederations Cup.

The Daihyo, our hated enemies, Japan. They topped their group in qualifying, but it was never really dominant, and the press has been hard in Halilhodzic for many reasons. Peering through their player pool, a lot of the squad is aging quickly, over 30 (Makino, Hasebe, Okazaki, Nagatomo, Kawashima), and apart from Takuma Asano, there isn’t too much to be excited about on the younger side. With a weaker player pool, limited resources and exploitable flaws, I wouldn’t be too worried to draw Japan, if I were supporting a top 16 team.

In truth, I know very little about Panama, but everything I read seems to suggest that they will take the Costa Rica approach to the World Cup – sit back, stay compact, foul a lot and defend for your lives. The veteran generation of Panama players have finally got themselves to a World Cup, capitalizing on a poor USA campaign, but they don’t, with no disrespect, look like a team who can score a goal against a superior opponent.

We’ve also recently met Morocco, but suffice it to say that this is an African team also worth worrying about. Though unlike Nigeria, Senegal and Egypt, they don’t boast one or two headline names with the quality to change a match on their own, Morocco’s collectivist, counter-attack-based approach saw them beat Cote d’Ivoire in CAF qualifying. Herve Renard has done well with another international side. The major caveat is that they have yet to prove their system’s effectiveness against intercontinental opposition (except South Korea) and it will remain to be seen if the same Morocco that conceded no goals in qualifying can pull off the same feat in Russia.

South Korea have underwhelmed throughout qualifying, and with a freshly appointed manager will inevitably come growing pains. Much like Japan, though their line-up contains several familiar Europe-based names, there isn’t a demonstrable amount of quality throughout the side. Pair that with a K League-based defense that hasn’t inspired confidence, and things aren’t exactly rosy for the AFC stalwarts. Their new tactical approach will put emphasis on Tottenham’s Son Heung-min to shine – it will be he who will make or break Korea’s World Cup dreams.

Saudi Arabia are back at the World Cup for the first time since 2002, eras of dominance were met with an era of disappointment. But they are back, and crawled through qualifying with merit, relying on pacey goal-scoring Mohamed Al-Sahlawi (who topped AFC qualifying goalscorers, and average 0.9 goals per game on the international level). However, recent losses to Portugal and Bulgaria (3-0 and 1-0), a managerial merry-go-round (now they have settled on Juan Antonio Pizzi) and a team solely placed of Saudi-based players may prove to be their downfall.

K League Classic

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

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Team

P

1

Gyeongnam

9

2

Gangwon

9

3

Pohang Steelers

7

4

Jeonbuk Motors

6

5

Suwon Bluewings

4

6

Incheon United

4

7

Jeju United

4

8

Jeonnam Dragons

3

9

Sangju Sangmu

3

10

Seoul

1

11

Daegu

1

12

Ulsan

0

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

March 18, 2018

Suwon Bluewings

1 - 1

Pohang Steelers

Ulsan

0 - 1

Jeju United

Jeonbuk Motors

2 - 1

Seoul

March 17, 2018

Jeonnam Dragons

1 - 3

Gyeongnam

Gangwon

2 - 1

Sangju Sangmu

Incheon United

0 - 0

Daegu

English Premier League

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

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Team

P

1

Manchester City

81

2

Manchester United

65

3

Liverpool

63

4

Tottenham Hotspur

61

5

Chelsea

56

6

Arsenal

48

7

Burnley

43

8

Leicester City

40

9

Everton

40

10

AFC Bournemouth

36

11

Watford

36

12

Brighton & Hov…

34

13

Newcastle United

32

14

Swansea City

31

15

Huddersfield Town

31

16

Crystal Palace

30

17

West Ham United

30

18

Southampton

28

19

Stoke City

27

20

West Bromwich Albion

20

Hwang Heechan

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

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Team

P

1

Red Bull Salzburg

62

Bundesliga

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

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Team

P

1

Bayern München

66

2

Schalke 04

49

3

Borussia Dortmund

48

4

Eintracht Frankfurt

45

5

Bayer 04 Leverkusen

44

6

RB Leipzig

43

7

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

39

8

Stuttgart

37

9

Borussia Mönchengladbach

36

10

Augsburg 1907

35

11

Hertha BSC

35

12

Werder Bremen

33

13

Hannover 96

32

14

SC Freiburg

30

15

Wolfsburg

25

16

1. FSV Mainz 05

25

17

1. FC Köln

20

18

Hamburger SV

18

Kwon Changhoon

Most recent soccer data here. The system is currently retrieving statistics from data feed.

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Team

P

10

Dijon

38

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The Tavern of the Taeguk Warriors is an online community of Korean football/soccer supporters. We bring you news, analysis and opinion in English about Korean players abroad, youth players and the K League.